3 Alberta communities make list of Canada's best small cities

Lethbridge, St. Albert and Airdrie have found their way onto a list of this year's best small cities in Canada.

The ranking, produced by Resonance Consultancy, a firm that examines the world's top urban destinations, placed the communities 10th, 14th and 22nd respectively out of the 25 cities on the 2022 list.

It says it used "statistical performance and qualitative evaluations by locals and visitors" to come up with scoring on each city in six core categories.

Lethbridge's sunny days and access to world-class tourist sites like Waterton Lakes National Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park helped push the city of approximately 100,000 people up the rankings.

"Your first peek of the city—two hours south of Calgary through postcard prairie towns and with arid foothills rising into jagged peaks on the west horizon—is from the top of the Oldman River valley and one you’ll never forget," the report said.

Meanwhile, St. Albert's location – minutes away from Edmonton – high average household income and top-notch prosperity was recognized by the company.

"St. Albert is very much its own place—it’s one of the only bedroom communities surrounding Edmonton that has its own hospital, for one.

"The Sturgeon Community Hospital offers emergency, women’s health, cardiac care, surgery, medicine, pediatrics and rehabilitation care in modern, clean facilities. In a province with a crippling doctor exodus, St. Albert claims more than 2.5 doctors per 1,000 residents—good for number 18 among Canada's small cities."

Last among the Alberta communities on Resonance's rankings is the city of Airdrie, located just north of Calgary.

It says the city's prosperity is third amongst the Canadian cities it looked at, as well as third in population growth.

"Local leadership, well aware that many residents commute to Cowtown for work, are lowering property taxes and eliminating the city’s business tax to coax homegrown innovation. It's working."

Resonance also took note of Airdrie's affordable real estate market and "planned amenities" like a multi-million-dollar library and community space that it says is scheduled to open in 2025.

Meanwhile, several major Canadian cities made Resonance's ranking of top cities in the world for 2022, with Toronto placed 18th, Vancouver at 46th, Montreal at 48th, Calgary at 49th, Ottawa at 84th and Edmonton at 86th.